Musings on movies, television, music and more

Song of the Day #1,116: ‘Creep’ – Devon Barley & Rebecca Loebe

I spent last week on songs by the four coaches of NBC’s The Voice, and this week I’m featuring performances by the show’s contestants.

Of the few dozen songs performed on the show over its 2 1/2 month run, not many really stood out as exceptional. Untested amateurs and semi-pros singing without the help of studio trickery in a high-pressure situation is not exactly a recipe for success.

But that air of uncertainty is what made these clips work. You can tell these are real people trying to fulfill a dream, and every note is weighed down with that drama.

First up are Devon Barley and Rebecca Loebe, who faced off in the Battle Round with their rendition of Radiohead’s ‘Creep.’

The Battle Round was a rather sadistic segment of The Voice, wherein members of each team were made to perform a song together in a “two singers enter, one singer leaves” death match. The team’s coach chose the better contestant following the duet.

It makes for a weird dynamic, because it is in each singer’s interest to outshine his or her opponent, going against the very spirit of a duet. And it led to some awkward performances.

But Devon and Rebecca, from Adam Levine’s team, didn’t battle each other — they were one of the only duos to complement each other. The result was a beautiful rendition of a powerful song.

Unfortunately, live clips are hard to come by on YouTube, but I did find this version with the original audio (not very loud, though) and a still photo from the show.

When you were here before
Couldn’t look you in the eye
You’re just like an angel
Your skin makes me cry
You float like a feather
In a beautiful world
I wish I was special
You’re so fucking special

But I’m a creep
I’m a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don’t belong here

I don’t care if it hurts
I want to have control
I want a perfect body
I want a perfect soul
I want you to notice when I’m not around
You’re so fucking special
I wish I was special

But I’m a creep
I’m a weirdo
What the hell I’m doing here?
I don’t belong here

She’s running out the door
She’s running out
She runs runs runs

Whatever makes you happy
Whatever you want
You’re so fucking special
I wish I was special

But I’m a creep
I’m a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don’t belong here
I don’t belong here

I agree with your assessment of the battle rounds, and of this particular performance. The one other battle round performance where I found the two performed a true duet and both came out shining was Pink’s “Perfect,” a song I’ve grown to absolutely love since watching Nikki and Vikki take it on under Cee-Lo’s tutelage.

Today’s song I’m much less fond of, despite loving the performance of it on The Sing-Off. While it’s not a song I can imagine wanting to listen to all that often, it does make for a very atmospheric and cool live performance.

My sadness after this particular rendition was that Rebecca went home, when she was an early favorite of mine.